Tuesday, May 15, 2012

OMG!! Another month has come and gone and yet again I failed to update this blog... sorry guys! :(

Well since last post much has happened... As you know i've been waiting to get repairs done to the house after the March floods and as yet i'm still waiting to get the roof replaced. The SES tarp has been removed and the ridge capping has been temporarily sealed to prevent further leakage but its only a short term fix. The roofing company has been organised, now its just a waiting game as to when they can do it (there are a alot of people in the same boat at the moment)... The carpets have been replaced and the plaster on the ceilings have been replaced and repainted so things are definitely looking up :) There is a degree of normality returning to my humble little abode - finally!...and I have my craftroom back - yay!!! lol

The alleyway next to my house - about an hour into the rain.Can only just see the footpath now.

Looking down the street - about an hour intothe rain... The road is much higher thanthe houses!

Me in my gumboots near my front door(and yes thats a fence paling)

Back street - an hour in - eventually wentup to their waist.

The next morning - assessing the damage...

<--- Ceiling after the roof leaked. The water came in from the ceiling, the floor and ran down the walls from the cornices... ----->

The next morning - after the SES tarped up the roof...

Well they say things happen in 3's and i've had my fair share of bad luck this year - firstly, as you know, I had my Staffy Buddha very sick (but thankfully she has fully recovered and is now back to normal), then of course the house flooded and left us with a huge repair bill, but then the most tragic thing of all happened - sadly, my beautiful old Silky Terrier, Fraggle, got very sick and had to be laid to rest :'( ...and I have to tell you that it absolutely broke my heart and was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life :'(

Turns out she had exactly the same disease as poor Buddha (pyometra)... Im still struggling to understand the illness because its not overly common and supposedly not contagious and yet there we were with 2 dogs at the vet within a month of each other and both with the same illness? My little brain cant comprehend how it happened and how it came on so suddenly in both cases - it just makes no sense at all to me... all I know is, if I ever own another dog, I will have it desexed immediately because undesexed bitches are the only ones at risk of getting this very serious illness and I dont EVER want another one of my beautiful pets to suffer this horrible disease!

Unfortunately my little Frags wasn't strong enough to take the treatment required to cure the Pyometra (Buddha only just survived and she's a strong healthy dog). Fraggle was 13 years old and riddled in Cancer and had we have continued to treat her we would have only been prolonging a painful life and I loved her too much to do that to her. But it was the toughest decision I ever had to make and even harder because I am a very strong believer in ''its not my place to determine life'' - I dont kill anything because its not my place to take their life, and yet there I was giving the ok for the vet to do just that :( Still makes me feel sick to this day! I stayed with her while the vet gave her the needle and I could literally feel her little life leave her body - in my whole life I will never forget that moment nor will I ever get over it. I think had she had died naturally, in her little bed, I could have accepted it easier but because of the circumstances I feel like i've robbed her of her life, even though I know deep down that she couldn't have survived the operation and she would've only suffered.

I have had her buried in my garden next to my other old girl (the one shown on the ATC from last month). Im going to plant a rose for her aswell and have decided on a beautiful yellow one - because her fur was a golden blonde and her personality was always bright and happy. So now I just have to find a beautiful, yellow, fragrant, double bloomed rose that is worthy enough to be placed at her grave. Im also going to put together an album all about her and i'm going to do a reverse canvas of her for my wall.

So thats my sad news... but it hasn't been all bad this month. I've actually had a pretty productive month as far as craft work goes. I managed to get my ATCs for my SIWA swap completed and I was really happy with how they turned out. Not sure if I mentioned last time that the April theme was in memory of the organisers baby boy whom she'd lost shortly after birth, so it was a little bit special this month. I put alot of thought and love into this months ATC and I truly hope I did baby Gregorys memory justice...

My interpretation on the April SIWA ATC swapAngel theme

A digital card challenge

I also managed to get an 18th birthday mini album completed for my best friends daughter who turns 18 next month *phew* - this one was doing my head in. Originally i'd planned on doing it digitally using blue nosed bears as a theme but that proved to be somewhat impossible and became a rather painful venture so I ended up going back to what I know best and made her a traditional mini album with flowers, ribbons and lots of pretties... I hope she likes it. I've known her since she was about 7 years old and I can hardly believe she's turning 18 - but shes a really good girl with a good head on her shoulders and a beautiful heart and I really hope she has a wonderful 18th party and can use her little album as a life long keepsake.

And ready... wait for it... I even managed to complete some of the unfinished projects that have been accumulating in my drawers forEVER!!! Proud of me! heehee :D It felt good to finish off what I had started so long ago. I have 2 mini albums which are now both complete, several quickpages that have had the finishing touches added to them and a heap of cards that needed glitzing, sentiments and envelopes added... I have even pulled out the sewing machine and started putting together some more sock monkeys!!!

I have finally decided to set up a facebook page to sell some of the things I make - I've done the groundwork for it and its currently sitting unpublished until I get my photos organised and uploaded and then i'll send it live! A wise woman once told me that if I don't list I wont sell so i'm going to take the plunge and hope for the best (as I choke on my own nerves). Unfortunately i'm not very confident when it comes to selling my own stuff (I think its because i'm so fussy and compare everything to commercially made products which are normally quite perfect and error free) but I get good feedback from my friends and family (and from strangers on forums etc) and I know that people understand that handmade things aren't always so perfect and its the little 'quirks' that make them special, so hopefully it'll all turn out ok (I don't expect to sell much but if nothing else it'll give me a reason to keep creating if I have something/someone to create for)...

and finally... I have decided to attempt to make my own soaps and body products. Im sick of itching all the time and feeling yukky after using commercial products so i've ordered a heap of natural products (beeswax, butters, oils etc and im going to attempt to do it all from scratch. gulp! Wish me luck and stay tuned... lol ;)

Anyway guys - once again sorry for the lengthy delay between blogs. Hope everyone is doing well and is finding there craft mojo :)

About Me

Hi! I'm Kim. I like to think of myself as someone who is very down to earth, who is open minded, who embraces life.
I choose to live a simple life because I believe we are a nation of over consumers who have more than we need & give less than we should...
I choose to believe in Santa because I believe everyone needs to have some magic in their life...
I choose to love life because it's just so precious!
What's my goal in life: to live simply... to leave minimal impact on the environment... to experience as much as I can before my time is up... to be kind to all creatures.